'Stories bring us closer together, while silences only keep us apart'

This year, The Observer's Christmas appeal is raising funds for the charity Counterpoints Arts, which supports creative work by and about migrants. Here, the writer Elif Shafak explains why their work is more vital than ever

- Elif Shafak

In times of economic distress and geopolitical instability, arts and culture are all the more needed to keep us hopeful, keep us sane.

Yet it is precisely in climates of growing unpredictability and accelerating social change that the creative industries often get severely neglected. Shortages of funding deepen the existing crisis.

According to the Campaign for the Arts, since 2011, there has been an alarming 23% reduction in the number of hours dedicated to the arts across state-funded secondary schools in the UK. Arts-related subjects now constitute only a small segment of GCSEs and A-level entries. Students have been discouraged owing to lack of support, as well as limitations to the curriculum or extracurricular activities.

From music venues to independent cinemas to literary festivals and local libraries, many across the arts and cultural scene are struggling enormously, feeling alone. We need to focus on the glass walls, not just glass ceilings.

The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s 2024 report found deep disparities related to gender, ethnicity, race and social class. The workforce in the arts, culture and heritage remain less diverse than the general workforce in the country. Added to all these challenges is a purely materialistic rhetoric that primarily values finance-oriented disciplines over others and often conflates money with success, and success with power, and power with happiness.

Young people with artistic talents are given neither enough guidance nor the necessary means to realise their potential. When the status of the arts declines, the number of students going into these fields inevitably plummets. This should concern all of us as a society.